Ukur Village Mosque with Its Architectural Properties and Hand Drawn Ornaments*
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Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi The Journal of International Social Research Cilt: 10 Sayı: 49 Volume: 10 Issue: 49 Nisan 2017 April 2017 www.sosyalarastirmalar.com Issn: 1307-9581 ÇUKUR VILLAGE MOSQUE WITH ITS ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES AND HAND DRAWN ORNAMENTS* Lütfiye GÖKTAŞ KAYA** Şeref KAYA*** Abstract Çukur is a village settlement 16 kilometres away from the city center and is officially bound to the district of Ovacık in the West Black Sea Region. The mosque, which has the same name with the village, is one of the 18-20. century mosques with a “villageroom” and registered. This facility which is located within the mosque and which has all the elements of a traditional Turkish room can be found in various places in Karabük. The structure which was built with stone and masonry techniques has hand-drawn decorations on the walls of unpartitioned walls of “harim section” and women’s gathering-place. Various colors and motives were used in geometrical, herbal and inscribed compositions. This structure, which has never been focused on any scientific study, will be made public by means of the present study. The purpose of the monographic featured study is to introduce the structure with architectural and decorative features to scientific community, to draw attention to the protection and the sustainability of historical and cultural heritage. Keywords: Karabük, Cultural Heritage, Architecture, Late Ottoman Mosques, Hand-drawn Painting. 1. Introduction Çukur village is in Ovacık which is one of the 6 districts of Karabuk province including the central district. The district is 48 kilometres away to the province centre and Cukur village is 12 kilometres away to the district. The present geographical area in which Karabuk province is located was referred as Paphlagonia in the first age, separated by Filyos Stream in the west from Bithynia and by Kızılırmak in the east from Pontus (Umar 2005:2). Paphlagonians, who are still unknown when and where they came to the area from, ruled there between 1100 – 700 B.C. and named the area as Paphlagonia. However, it is known that Romans ruled over the area in 64 B.C. and after the secession of the Roman Empire, Byzantines reigned until 1000 A.D. (Gökoğlu 1952:12-13, Yazıcıoğlu 1982:9). Today, along with Karabük, there are Bartın, Kastamonu, Çankırı, Sinop provinces and a part of Çorum province which is in the western part of Kızılırmak is located in this aforementioned area. Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate was founded in 1075 after the conquest of İznik by Suleiman Shah and Kastamonu and some of the surrounding premises which were affiliated to Karabuk are noted as important military and settlement area in the Seljukian history. Besides, as the area was contiguous to Byzantine and Black Sea and near to the Central Anatolia in the south, it made its military – strategic location more important (Turan 1988:1). After the foundation of Seljuk State, the Turkish nomad tribes who were settled in Anatolia headed to the west, they seized Kastamonu, Çankırı, Ankara, Eskişehir, Kütahya, Denizli and achieved domination in the Kastamonu, Safranbolu and Gerede zone. This progress was broken after the death of Suleiman Shah. In 1085, Emir Karatekin, a frontiersman who had been allied to Suleiman Shah, ruled over the area including Sinop, Kastamonu, Çankırı and Safranbolu (Yazıcıoğlu 1982:11). Byzantine Emperor Yuannis organized an expedition to the area in 1126 – 1127 and took the charge of the area from Turks. After that date, the area continuously changed hands between Turks and Byzantines (Turan 1988:3). *The study was presented at International Symposium on New Trends in Social And Liberal Sciences, April 28-May 01, 2016, Milan, Italy and supported by Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Karabük University, Project Number: 16/1-YD-048 **Assoc. Prof. Lütfiye Göktaş Kaya, Karabük University Faculty of Letters, Department of Art History, [email protected] ***Lec. Şeref Kaya, Karabük University, Safranbolu Vocational School Department Architectural Restoration, [email protected] - 200 - Çobanoğulları sovereignty started in the area between the years 1213 – 1280 with the assignment of Emir Hüsameddin Çoban as the right frontiersman of Seljuk State after he seized Kastamonu over Byzantines in 1213 (Yazıcıoğlu 1982:17). In 1354, when the Ottomans came as near as Gerede and Ankara, Safranbolu and surrounding premises were under the government of Candaroğulları. After the struggle between Ottomans and Candaroğulları and with the help of the support of the local community on their side, Ottomans dominated the area (Yazıcıoğlu 1982:23). Çukur Village Mosque is recorded in Karabuk province, Ovacık district, central neighbourhood, 125 th block and 195 th layout. The structure is placed on a flat terrain in the centre of the village. It was registered as a cultural heritage which is required to be preserved and protected according the adjudication no. 8442 dated 07.03.2003 of Ankara Regional Directorate for Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets1 (Picture 1). Pic.1. Overall view of Çukur Village Mosque 2. Material, Technique and Architectural Properties The mosque consists of two main sections, one of them is the main prayer section named as “harim (sanctuary)” and the other is an additional section (appendix) which was built subsequently and coterminously to the building in the north side (Drawing 1, 2). The walls of the sanctuary are sheared in the corners, boast and rubble stone in the main masonry walls and mortared. Underneath the coating, it can be seen especially in the peeled off bare parts which are close to the base that bonding timbers were used in the wall arrangement. Coatings in the south part of the mosque were peeled off more than the rest of the building and there are outward openings in the west wall (Picture 2). These openings can be seen distinctively in the inner side of the building. 1 Obtained from the records in Directorate Regional of Karabük Committee for Protection of Cultural Assets. - 201 - Drawing 1. Plan of Downstairs Drawing 2. Plan of Upstairs (Drawn by Ş. Kaya) (Drawn by Ş. Kaya) Pic. 2. South Aspect The additional section (appendix) is a two storey construction which shows poor workmanship with its framework with bricks filled with mud without a coating. Even though the construction date of this additional section is not known, the building was registered as it is. The top of the whole building is covered with a hipped roof, of which the construction is free standing timber. Covering material of the roof is Turkish and Marseilles tile (Picture 3). Pic. 3. Roof View - 202 - Just in the northwest of the building, there is a concrete minaret with two balconies, the height of which is approximately 25 meters. There is no direct connection between the building and the minaret (Picture 4). It can be understood from the traces on the building and the old pictures that the authentic minaret of the mosque was made of wood and was located adjacent to the main structure in the northwest corner and the stairs up to the minaret starts inside the building (Picture 5). According to the oral notices, the present minaret was built separately 15 years ago in the west of the building. Pic. 4. Present Concrete Minaret Pic.5. Original Wooden Minaret While the entrance of the building was in the north side in the authentic single spaced building, the entrance today is in the west side of the additional section (appendix) of which extent is 8.75x5.95 meters. In the east of the entrance, there is a room of which the floor and the ceiling was made of wood and has a window on the east side. The wooden stairs to the second floor are in the south of the entrance (Picture 6). In this floor, the room placed in the east extending 4.82x4.20 meters has a wooden floor and ceiling. There is a furnace in the west side. Same as the downstairs room, this room also has a window on the east side. It can be understood that this additional part is used as a village chamber. Pic. 6. Additional Section in the North, Ladders to Upstairs Entrance to the sanctuary from the additional section is done in the north side, through a wooden double leaf door placed in a stone overcast aspheric arch. The double leaf door, which is one of the authentic elements of the building, is a hub door created by square and rectangular plates between horizontal springers. The centre pole of the door was ornamented in a herringbone pattern carried out by the scratching technique. There is an inscription of “Bismillahirahmanirahim” in the west of the door painted in black and in talik style on the wall coating (Picture 7, 8). - 203 - Pic.7. The Door of Sanctuary Pic.8. The Writing in the West of the Door of Sanctuary The “harim” (sanctuary) extends approximately 11.30x87.50 meters in a rectangular shape and its wall thickness is 0.85 – 0.87 meters. There are 2 windows on the top in the south side, one window at the bottom and two windows on the top in the west side and one window at the bottom in the east side to provide the illumination of the place. The approximate window dimension is 130x80x85 centimetres each. Wooden frame windows are covered with an arrangement which is widely known as “muşabak” in the region, made with networks of lath placed traversely. Woodworking is not only seen in the entrance door of harim, but can also be seen in the floor covering and the ceiling, in the pulpit (minbar) and women’s place. The women’s place, which is located in the north and extending 7.00x2.50 meters, sits on four square posts, of two are wall bound and the other two are unbound.